It is well known in motor vehicles to provide an air bag assembly for the protection of a vehicle occupant. Such air bag assemblies typically include an inflatable cushion structure in fluid communication with a gas emitting inflator. Upon the occurrence of predetermined vehicle conditions, such as deceleration exceeding a certain level, a signal is sent via appropriate sensors to the gas emitting inflator thereby causing the inflator to discharge gas into the air bag cushion thereby forcing the air bag cushion outwardly from a stored position into an operative position between the occupant to be protected and the interior portions of the vehicle against which the occupant might otherwise come in contact. The presence of the inflated air bag cushion between the occupant and the interior portions of the vehicle provides a cushioning effect as the occupant impacts the inflated cushion thereby dissipating the kinetic energy of the occupant in a controlled manner.
It is also known to provide an air bag assembly for side impact protection of a vehicle occupant. The prior art has disclosed side impact air bag assemblies which have either one cushion or a plurality of cushions which deploy to protect the head and torso portions of the vehicle occupant. The protection of the vehicle occupants against side impact injury may be desired in a large number of different types of vehicles wherein the interiors of such vehicles may be substantially different. While the prior art configurations of side impact devices have been generally useful in the protection of occupants, the method of establishing the head and torso protection portions of the cushion have not been highly adaptable to a large number of different categories of vehicles with different interior configurations.